by Mysti Parker
“It is,” Harper said, feeling homesick for the umpteenth time. “But then again, I guess it’s not that much different. People rush around there too.”
“That's a shame. It's better to slow down and enjoy the view sometimes.”
“Yeah.” She missed the green sprawl of rolling hills, black fences and red barns along the rural highways back home. But here, she had good views too – twinkling skylines, amazing architecture, people from all cultures. And Gabriel. She smiled, remembering how Adonis-like he had been, stretched out naked on her bed, a sheen of sweat on his bronze skin. Someday, she could take him back and show him all the places she loved in Kentucky.
Who’d have thought she’d ever have a man she wanted to bring home to Mama?
Harper laughed to herself, prompting a sneer from the teenage boy, who scanned through endless anime posts on his Instagram feed.
Her cell phone chirped with a Kentucky songbirds’ ringtone. She let go of the overhead bar long enough to grapple it from her purse, elbowing her neighbors in the tight space around her. She expected to see Gabriel’s name on the caller ID, but instead, it read: Mama.
Sighing, Harper hit accept and put the phone to her ear. “Hi Mom, what’s up? How are you?”
“I’m fine. How are you? You hardly ever call anymore.”
“Yeah, I know. Sorry. Busy at work and…” She quickly considered whether to tell her about Gabriel or not, but then added, “…I have a new boyfriend.”
“Really? Who is he?”
Harper had to chuckle at that one. If she had still been back home, her mother might very well know – or at least know of – any guy she dated. “His name is Gabriel Castillo.”
“Sounds foreign.”
“He’s Cuban. Well, his family is.”
“Does he speak English?”
“Of course. And Spanish. He’s a sea lion trainer here at the aquarium.” After a moment of silence, Harper shifted in her seat and lowered her voice. “Do you have a problem with me dating him?”
Her mother coughed into the phone, hurting Harper’s ear. With a grimace, she held it away from her for a second and then put it back to her ear to hear her mother speaking again:
“...what I think? People around here might have a problem with it, same as if you were dating a black guy, but I ain’t them. I don’t care what he looks like so long as he doesn’t drink and doesn’t hit you. He doesn’t, right?”
“No, Mom, not at all.”
“Then he’s all right in my book. Just be careful and don’t end up pregnant unless you’re married first.”
Harper’s cheeks grew warm as her conversation seemed to be drawing the attention of her fellow passengers. Her mom’s voice tended to carry well beyond safe territory. “Mom, I’ll be careful, okay? I really need to go. I’m almost at work.”
“Okay, but call me soon. Your brother is going to ask Lena to marry him tonight.”
“Wow, that’s awesome! I hope she says yes.”
“If she knows what’s good for her, she will. I can’t believe both my kids are marrying New Yorkers.”
“I’m not getting married yet, Mom. Don’t call the florist.”
“Oh I know, but do you love him?”
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“Good. Then, don’t let him get away. Talk to you later, hun. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Harper hit ‘end’ and barely had time to grab the overhead bar as the train came to a halt. As loony as her mother could be sometimes, she missed her. But she was growing to love NYC, too. And Gabriel. Who was she kidding? She already did love him like crazy. But, he hadn’t said it. He’d shown up at her door last night ready to romp in the sack, but was she just an itch he had to scratch, the ‘exotic’ transplant from Kentucky who was different than Rachel and any other girls he may have dated? Surely it had to be more than that.
Yet, her life experience told her that some men would rather screw with no expectations than have any sort of committed relationship. Sure, sex with Gabe was amazing. She wouldn’t be deprived physically, but she wanted a fuller relationship. Was that unrealistic for a woman so young? Maybe she’d watched too many Disney princesses growing up.
She finally arrived at the Aquarium a few minutes past nine and rushed into the office. If she were lucky, Rachel would be out wining and dining some more bigwigs. But, no – as soon as Harper came through the door, there was Rachel at the coffeemaker. She locked eyes with her immediately.
“Hi,” Harper mumbled and scurried to her desk.
Rachel walked over and stood there, leaning on the small counter that formed the backdrop of Harper’s desk. She calmly stirred her coffee but kept looking at Harper. “Did you oversleep?”
Harper avoided her supervisor’s gaze. Suddenly, being in the same room as another woman who knew every inch of Gabriel’s body felt insanely weird. She wasn’t about to have a full on catfight with Rachel, but she couldn’t bring herself to look her in the eye.
“I’m…yeah…totally overslept. Power must have gone out, so the alarm didn’t go off. I didn’t have anything scheduled here this morning until the show at ten-thirty, though.”
“Maybe so, but you’re expected to be here from eight to five anyway.”
“I can stay an extra hour.”
“No one will be here. We’ll just have to dock an hour off your paycheck.”
Harper’s jaw tightened. She gripped her computer mouse hard enough to have killed a real mouse. She couldn’t control her inner smart-ass and blurted, “So, was Gabe late, too? He left my apartment really early this morning, so I hope he made it on time.”
Rachel went super still. Her eyes narrowed. Her plump red lips quivered. Oh boy, Harper had touched a nerve. She almost laughed. But Rachel soon composed herself and smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “It sounds like you two are really hitting it off.”
“You can call it that, I guess.”
“He snores, you know.”
Harper shrugged. “I’m a deep sleeper.”
With a quiet harrumph, Rachel walked away. Harper let out the breath she’d been holding. She should have probably kept her mouth shut, but it served Rachel right for sticking her in a sea lion suit and making her speak in front of a crowd. Harper smiled. Force me into public speaking? I’ll sleep with your ex-boyfriend. That could be her new motto.
She had a whole hour before the show started, so she deleted emails from her inbox, organized files, and double-checked schedules while she listened to the not-quite-out-of-earshot conversation going on in Macy the accountant’s office.
Rachel sounded like she was totally spazzing. “She’s…. bitch…she thinks she can….”
Macy never seemed to really care about any of the drama but did whatever she could to appease Rachel. “…fine. Give…two weeks. Gabe…bored…will…back to his senses.”
That was about all Harper could take. She gathered her purse and headed to the sea lion exhibit early. But what if Macy was right? What if Gabriel had just been bored with Rachel and had only hooked up with Harper as a distraction? He hadn’t declared his love for her or even asked her to be his steady girlfriend. He hadn’t even been keen on going to bed with her until she basically threw herself at him. Did that make her a desperate ho?
Ugh. Why did this love business have to be so freaking hard?
She didn’t see Gabe anywhere when she went in the staff door. He must have he’d made it into work. Great. Now she felt guilty that she hadn’t called or texted him. But, wait – wasn’t that the guy’s job? Did that mean she had indeed been just an itch he had needed to scratch?
Jim looked up when she stormed through his office. He set down his Styrofoam cup of coffee and frowned. “What’s the hurry?”
“Sorry, no hurry really, I thought I’d get started with the odor suppression in the costume so I don’t lose my breakfast.” Harper opened the rusty locker, bracing herself for the foul smell.
“No need for that. I g
ot it cleaned for you.”
She turned to look at Jim, who sat back in his office chair, arms behind his head, and potbelly peeking from beneath his shirt. He smiled all satisfied-like.
“Wow, Jim, seriously?”
“Yeah. You’re a good kid. Plus, Gabe threatened to feed me to the sharks if I didn’t.”
“Thanks.” She laughed and carried the costume to the bathroom. At least he was honest, and at least Gabriel had cared enough to keep her olfactory glands in working order. Was that a good sign?
****
When she finally emerged, all dressed like a sea lion with nowhere to go, Gabriel was there, feeding Jorge some herring. The sea lion looked a lot more energetic, springing up to catch the fish as he swam in his pool.
Gabe’s smile was extra warm and a little Mona Lisa, like he knew something she didn’t.
“He seems better,” Harper said. Her mouth was dry and her hands shaky. She just had this man all up in her hoo-ha last night. Why the heck would she feel so nervous?
“Yes, he’s a lot better. He’ll do a few tricks today and go back to his full routine next week.”
“That’s great.”
“Hey, about last night…”
“It was fun.”
“Yeah.” He focused on Jorge again. “Do you…?”
The door opened, and Rachel breezed through, shaking her hips as she teetered in her ridiculously high heels. She had a stack of index cards. “Harper, you forgot your show notes on your desk.” She handed them to Harper, who took them with her flipper gloves.
“Um, thanks.”
Rachel crossed her arms and fixed a bright smile on Gabe. “So, Harper tells me you two are hitting it off.”
Gabriel glanced at Harper and smiled nervously. “Yeah. We’re fine, thanks.”
She stepped up close and put a hand on his cheek. Her voice turned husky. “Well, if you need anything, you know, I’ll be here.”
With that, she turned and left, with her generous butt in high swish mode within her tight skirt. Harper seethed as Gabe’s gaze followed the movement like one would a hypnotist’s pendulum.
She sighed, put on her sea lion head, and left for the Aquatheater.
“Harper?” Gabe asked.
She ignored him.
****
The weather was nice and cool, thankfully, so sweat didn’t pour, and the costume no longer stank. A big crowd had gathered. Restless kids cried and whined. Others chased their siblings along the fence that surrounded the show pool. The show started off great. Harper delivered her lines just fine. Pepper was in prime performance mode, showing off with great big splashes and leaps from the water. The kids loved it.
Everything was going just fine, until Harper read her next show note aloud: “These stupid sea lions will do anything for fish!”
A collective gasp arose from the crowd. Gabe stared at her, his mouth agape, and pulled back the fish he had held up for Pepper, causing the sea lion to bark in aggravation.
The sweat returned. It beaded on her forehead. “Um, I’m so sorry. My notes are…” Frantically she flipped through them. They were out of order, and some of them had been replaced with the wrong lines, none of which would be appropriate for a family show.
Harper panicked. Her heart pounded in her ears. She felt dizzy as the audience grumbled, and Gabe took over.
“Pepper loves his fish! Watch him catch them blindfolded!” He passed close to Harper with the blindfold to put it on Pepper, who sat impatiently on his platform. “What’s going on?” he whispered.
“I….I don’t….” She stared blindly into the crowd until her gaze finally honed in on Rachel, who stood by the stands with a very smug smile on her face. Harper reached up and switched off her wireless headset. “I’m going to kill her, that’s what’s going on.”
She marched toward the stands, but her seal flipper foot came loose. She tripped on it and started to topple. Gabe was still performing.
“While our mascot fetches a new mic, let’s watch Pepper-“
Harper hit the water with a splash. It immediately soaked through the thick costume. Like hands from the underworld, it pulled her down into the fifteen-foot depths. She was a good swimmer, and she tried to tread water, to stroke with her arms, but the suit quickly became waterlogged and heavy. More water filled the hollow sea lion head of her costume. It went up her nose. She held her breath, but her desperate movements called for more oxygen. Her lungs ached.
Horror and dread filled her mind. She was about to drown in a sea lion costume in front of a bunch of little kids. And what would the obituary say? Accidentally drowned while pretending to be a sea lion that couldn’t swim?
The head part floated away as she sank farther down. A dark streak shot through the water from the surface, followed by another. Her vision grew darker. Her brain foggier. She would lose consciousness any second. And then she was on top of a sea lion, buoyed up on Pepper’s back. Gabe was there, holding her as the trio swam back up and breached the surface.
As soon as the sun hit her face, Harper took a huge breath of fresh air, gasping to fill her tortured lungs. She had Gabe on one side holding her up and Pepper supporting her on the other side.
“Are you okay?” Gabriel asked. “Harper, can you talk?”
“Yes,” she gasped. “I’m okay.”
“Gracias a Dios.” He kissed her then. Held her tight. “You scared me to death. I thought I’d lost you.”
“You almost did.”
He pulled back enough to look her in the eye. “I love you. I’m so crazy in love with you.”
Tears mixed with the pool water on her face. “Me too. I’m so freaking in love with you.”
A moment of silence passed, then a huge cheer rose up from the crowd. She couldn’t have imagined a better or more ridiculous scenario to finally hear him say he loved her.
Chapter Fifteen
“Really, Rachel?” Dwight snapped. “Really? What the fuck?”
“Okay, okay,” Rachel said.
It was the day after Harper’s near-drowning. Gabriel was on the other side of the office door. He had been about to enter but stopped when he realized what was going on inside. The door was still cracked open so he could hear the confrontation.
“You were still so jealous of Harper that you had to set her up like that? After the other night? After us?”
“Yeah, I know, I was wrong,” Rachel said. “And I told you, the other night was an accident, okay?”
“An accident? Which part was the accident? The part where you took your clothes off, or the part where you stayed the night and …”
“Dwight! Yo, man, chill out! Nobody knows about that.”
“Why not?”
Sound of something banging on a desk.
Gabriel covered his mouth, pinching his nose to cover a snicker. Dwight had her all tied in knots.
“I was thinking you should put it on Facebook as a status update. ‘Hey, vato, last night I fucked the maintenance man.’ Relationship status, ‘it’s complicated.’ How about that?”
The chair squeaked. She must have settled into it. Gabriel felt his giggles pass. He shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but Dwight was going to tell him the whole story later, anyway. He would enter soon but didn’t want to spoil Dwight’s momentum.
“Anyway, I just came in here to tell you you messed up, but we’re still on for The Hole tonight.”
Rachel snorted. “And just what makes you think I want to go with you?”
“Because I’m your best friend, and I am ready, willing, and able to put up with your shit, because you are for me and I am for you. That, and my very large dick which will be yours at the conclusion of the evening. You will like it and I will like it and we will keep that up because a nightly sexual encounter is good for physical and emotional health. Right?”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Rachel’s nails were clicking on her keyboard. “Okay, how’s this?”
“Let me see. Yeah, okay. You can post that.”
Gabriel stepped back further from the door and checked Rachel’s Facebook page on his phone. She had just posted ‘in a relationship with’ and tagged Dwight Candy.
Dwight stepped into the hallway, saw Gabriel, and rushed toward him. “You heard it all, I guess?”
“Sure. You were rough on her,” Gabriel said.
“That’s just to get her to admit what she already knows, that we have real chemistry. Believe me, as soon as she gets used to me being her boyfriend, she’ll be the power player in the relationship. You know how easygoing I am.”
“Take care of her,” Gabriel said. “She has a really loving heart underneath all her bullshit.”
“I know. Good as her ass is, that’s not the reason I fell for her. It was watching how she took care of you. I was like, I wish I had a girl like that in my life. Then when you guys broke up, I was all, I wish I had that specific girl in my life. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her, and she’ll take care of me, and someday the two of us will move to Spain or Italy and eat the really good seafood. See you tonight at the bar?”
“Sure.”
****
Gabriel met Harper in the parking lot. It was her turn to drive, and his first time riding in the pink pickup truck. They would go pick up his mother, and then head to Havana Buena for dinner, and then to The Hole for a few drinks.
“I’ll do it all without the GPS,” Harper promised. “I was studying the map last night while you were asleep.”
“You promise you won’t get lost?”
“I won’t get lost. I’m a Brooklyn girl now. Right, papasito?”
Gabriel didn’t even try to control his smile.
Harper didn’t get lost. She pulled up at a hydrant outside Sofia’s house, put on the emergency flashers, grabbed an athletic bag from the space behind the seat, told him to wait.
“I can go.”
“No, you stay. You had a hard workout today with the sea lions.”
About ten minutes later, Harper reappeared with Sofia holding onto her arm. The two were dressed in matching brown slacks and New York Aquarium polos. Harper’s shirt was new; that outfit must have been what was in her bag. Gabriel recognized from the older design that his mother was wearing one of his dad’s shirts. A tear rolled down his cheek. She had never worn Rafael’s clothes before; she had found a new way to be close to him.